Rainy Days
by Gracie-Joy
Summary: Rose doesn't like rainy days that don't involve snuggling in bed with a mug of hot chocolate, doughnuts, movies and her significant other. How does she manage when those things aren't included on her rainy day? One shot! (:


**Rainy Days.**

**A/N: Just a one shot (:  
Please review at the end!**

It was cold outside. And it wasn't that nice cold where you could roll around on the ground, make snowmen, throw frozen balls of ice and get away with it but that cold that made everything damp, wet and miserable. It was the kind of cold that made me want to snuggle up in bed with warm doughnuts, a cup of hot chocolate and my boyfriend, watching movies all day.  
But no.  
Christian and Mia had put their marvellous heads together and organised a training facility that allows the Moroi to be able to practice both magical and physical defence. Of course being Moroi themselves and not quite up to the task of instructing a whole fleet of bumbling awkward vampires they turned their puppy dog eyes to the guardians and practically begged for help.  
Who could resist their beautiful faces? Apparently Dimitri couldn't. Neither could Eddie, Meredith, and a whole bunch of older guardians who believed in the progress Lissa was making with the court about using magic offensively. Thus I had been dragged into their training.  
And what did that have to do with me not being able to snuggle up in bed with my incredibly attractive other half? Christian, the lord and master that reigns over schedules, rostered me on for the day.  
And then there's that small problem of staying dry. Christian and Mia still hadn't been able to get the funding for hiring a building to practice in and once people heard the purpose of the building they wouldn't let them rent it anyway. So guess where the practice area was? No not in my bedroom with a cup of hot chocolate but outside on top of the building that Mia lived in.  
Once when Lissa and I were in Portland we'd rented a hotel room on the fourth floor of a building. It had been dusty, run down, and the previous guests hadn't aired out the smoke that had seeped into every corner of the room. Almost choking, I'd thrown open the doors and stepped out onto the balcony. Not only had I discovered that the door hadn't been built for such force and had run off the tracks but I'd found out how terrified I really was of heights. The railing overlooking the magnificent drop to the car park beneath was simply a two thin strips of rusting metal that wound around a few poles. Feeling my stomach drop, I'd squeaked and jumped back, pressing myself against cold door that was wobbling precariously against the brick wall and snuck back inside hoping to the heavens that Lissa wouldn't notice my lack of pleasure for sunbaking on the back porch.  
That was the same feeling I got every time I marched determinedly on the roof. But that determination today had fled and in its place stood an anger that even scared myself.  
I released it on my clumsy students. Pouring rain in the top of a building, ten stories up was not my forte. Not to mention the incredible wind that I was positive would push us over the edge to our untimely deaths. Maybe Pyro would survive, in so much pain, and feel the guilt of it all.  
"Hey, Hathaway! Stop scaring the children!" Christian shouted from inside the small doorway that led onto the large roof, after spotting my scowl. The roof was about thirty metres each side and it was covered in fresh turf that Christian had, had laid out to soften the impact of falling. It didn't do much good. The Moroi still went home with bruises blotching their faces in various colours. Each day I made it my goal to compliment the person with the best 'face paint', as it was becoming known as.  
Little else was on top of the roof and there was only just enough space for the twenty moroi that did show up on a regular basis. We split the groups into two and rotated them around between physical combat offensive and defensive, and magic defensive only. Offensive magic wasn't officially legal yet.  
Rain pelted against my face and I scowled up at the sky. Dimitri had a shift at the front gate. The clostest he would get to the rain would be walking the short ten metres back under the awning and following the cover all the way back to our apartment. Curse him.  
"Careful or there won't be any more children!" I shouted back to him. I could hear his laughter from the other side of the roof, the sound being carried towards me in the wind. Hot Chocolate. Just think of the hot chocolate.  
"Move to your three movement offensive combo. Keep it smooth people. Jill, get your block up!" I shouted as she took a nasty foot to the gut. I winced when her delicate frame fell onto her backside and slid through the mud that was beginning to appear in thicker patches.  
"What do you think?" Christian asked, appearing at my side to get a better look at my students. They were all shivering. The Moroi shouldn't be out in weather like this, it went against every bone in my body, but Mia and Christian were determined it would be good for their training. Apparently there was no rule book that said Strigoi couldn't attack during storms. Who knew, right?  
"I think I need some hot chocolate," I grumbled. Christian snorted and jabbed me in the hip.  
"I don't think so," he said with a straight face. I glared at him but he refused to crack under my gaze.  
"Fine. They're getting better. Still clumsy as hell. This wind isn't helping. Can we go home yet?"  
"Why? You cold?"  
"Yes." Christian scratched his head thoughtfully before shaking his head, whipping even more droplets over my face.  
He said "oh," and then I was covered in flames. I screamed and frantically patted at my body, dropping to the grass, rolling in the mud. Beside me Christian was laughing hysterically. That's when I remembered Ralph. Ralph had been on fire once but not a spot of him had been burnt. I froze in a foetal position on the ground feeling the eyes of every one on the roof. Of course Christian would.  
"I hate you!" I snapped and flung my hand out as he began to walk away causing him to stumble and land on his hands and knees. Around us hushed snickers could be heard but no one was brave enough to laugh out loud at the crazy guardian Hathaway or the pyromaniac Christian Ozera, both closely connected to the queen.  
"You still have an hour of training; do _not_ make me double it!" I snapped to my class and before long they were hacking away at each other.  
Dimitri. He would be finished his shift at the gate by now. He would already have made it to our apartment and into the shower. Hot and steamy, the mirror fogged up just begging to have faces drawn over it. One time I even made Dimitri stand still while I drew a french moustache where his face was. I imagined his clean, fresh smelling body. Of leather, and some spice I could never place.  
"Of course he'd be clean," I grumbled and looked down at my shirt that had been transformed into a collection of mud and exotic pieces of grass. Grass that was only found on the roof of Mia's apartment building.  
I angrily pushed back hair that was plastered across my face and I spat out a chunk of mud that managed to make its way to my mouth from my hair. Dimitri's hair probably didn't have mud in it. No his hair probably smelt like the new apple shampoo sitting in the shower rack. He probably smelt like apples and spice while I smelt like mud, over-chewed grass and rain.  
His skin probably wasn't emaciated from the time spent in the rain and he probably wasn't shivering out of skin. Oh, no. Dimitri was probably warmly wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, like he does, strong doubled hot chocolate in his left hand while the right one held tightly to a western novel he's already read thirty eight times. His hair was probably dried by now, the shorter front strands falling across his face every now and again and he would flick his head to try and be rid of them.  
I winced as I felt a squelch in my sneakers and scowled as I thought of Dimitri wrapped up in warm woollen socks his mother had sent him from Russia. They were so fluffy, I wore them myself until Dimitri complained and his mother sent me my own pair. I snickered as I remembered Dimitri's face when I refused to return his and he was forced to where the light pink ones that were supposed to be mine. But he was probably wearing his thick dark blue ones by now. He was probably laughing at his victory…  
"Guardian Hathaway, my arms bleeding," A small voice quivered. He was only about thirteen, still gangly and thin like most moroi boys. And like most moroi boys he was still at the age where he was awkward about himself. I looked at his arm and whistled at the gash on his arm. It was deep enough that it needed pressure. I sighed and pulled off my jacket, wrapping it around tightly.  
"Christian, he needs to get to the hospital. His arms pretty banged up," I instructed. They turned away and I glanced at my bare goose bumped arms. Dimitri definitely didn't have goose bumps as he was wrapped up in his blanket with hot chocolate, warm Russian socks and fresh clothing that definitely was not coated in blood.  
I had glanced down to spot the obvious blood splatters across my stomach, mixed in with mud and grass stains. Perfect.  
My stomach growled and I barked instructions out to the struggling moroi. They were exhausted. My stomach growled again and I pouted.  
Dimitri probably wasn't starving. He probably was eating the chocolate doughnuts I had bought along with croissants and bacon I'd stocked the fridge up with yesterday afternoon. He was probably sizzling up that bacon in the frying pan right now, the smell of it cooking filtering through the house. Oh, and he probably was baking that black bread his mother made. Curse Dimitri within an inch of his life.  
"Rose, I think I sprained my ankle."  
"Guardian Hathaway, I can't breathe!"  
"Guardian Hathaway, I don't think she's conscious! Did I kill her?!  
"Guardian Hathaway, it's cold."  
"Guardian Hathaway, I've lost my glasses!"  
"Guardian Hathaway-"  
"Enough!" I shouted. Everything froze and I scowled at them all.  
"I've had enough! No more whining and complaining! You get hurt, you take yourself to the clinic. You're cold? Then go home. You hungry? You go home! I for one am going home!" I snapped. Before I could take a good look at the gaping faces before me sloshed my way through the ever growing pool of water surround our feet and stamped determinedly down the steps, nothing but the sound of my sloshing on the way day.  
I marched across court, not bothering to hide under awnings as the moroi did but successfully stomped in every puddle I could find, not caring about the wide-eyed stares I received from coffee shop windows of the dry moroi and their guardians inside.  
When I reached my building I wiped my feet on the mat outside but still managed to trudge up an entire football field of dirt through the ground level and up the thirty two steps to our third level apartment. Under the door I spotted a warm light humming at me and I threw the door open angrily and then slammed it shut with a satisfying _bang_.  
I was right. I looked to my right which lead straight to a simple kitchen. I could smell the remnants of bacon and croissants. I spotted a doughnut missing from the packet. Over the bench that separated the kitchen from the dining and living area I spotted a sight that made me huff. Dimitri. There he was, his soft, obviously clean hair pulled back at the nape of his neck, his legs wrapped up in a blanket, a book in one hand and a finished mug of hot chocolate on the floor beside him. As the door slammed he turned around and his expression turned into something like a stunned mullet.  
"What?" I snapped and strutted past him, straight into the bathroom.  
"Rose? Rose, are you okay? Is that blood?" he asked, his hand stopping the door from slamming closed. I growled at him and pushed it shut.  
"It's not mine!" I shouted and began peeling my clothing from my body.  
"Where's your jacket? Don't tell me you didn't have one, and why do you smell like smoke?" he said through the door. I threw my shoe at the door he stood behind but didn't answer. I huffed angrily once more and moved to jump in the shower but scowled at the mirror instead. It was still dripping with the condensation that Dimitri had let form there from his own shower. I even spotted one of the faces Dimitri had drawn, dripping away.  
Warm water rushed over my body and I quickly ran shampoo that smelt like pomegranates through my hair and then washed vanilla body wash over my skin that was scratched and bruised from training. I used to hate the bruises but now they meant something. They meant every blow I'd take for a life that was precious to me. One for Lissa, one for Dimitri, one for Adrian, one for Christian, one for Eddie, one for Mia, the one I should have taken for Mason…  
I turned off the knobs of the shower and huddled in a soft warm towel made of Egyptian cotton that Lissa had bought me as a present. It was about double my size which made it the most comfortable towel in the world.  
"Rainy days are made for snuggling, hot chocolate and movies," I grumbled to the massive sad face I'd drawn on the mirror. I sighed, and ran across the hall to get dressed before making my way to the kitchen.  
The sight I saw made guilt wash over me like a tonne of bricks falling from the highest point of a crane. Dimitri was back in his spot on the couch, book in hand, as I padded quietly to the kitchen bench which held a plate filled with bacon, croissants, doughnuts and next to it a giant mug of hot chocolate. Guilt ate away at me as I stared at it until I couldn't take it anymore. I ignored the food and ran over to the couch, diving on top of Dimitri, my face buried in his chest, my arms wrapped around his body.  
"I'm sorry I was such a jerk," I shouted against his hoodie. He chuckled and rubbed a hand across my back soothingly.  
"It's okay," he assured me. I looked up and met his deep brown eyes, so full of love and amusement.  
"You want to know why I was so cranky?" I asked. He nodded his head with a thoughtful frown  
"I'm sure it had nothing to do with being soaking wet and covered in mud?" he asked.  
"Partially," I admitted with a grin. "The rest is because I knew your lazy ass was back here eating away at my food, wearing my socks smelling like apple flavoured shampoo and drinking hot chocolate," I said. Dimitri laughed and his hand reached down and pulled up a pair of rolled socks. Big fluffy dark blue ones.  
"I left you the socks," he said. My eyes widened and I looked at his feet which he kicked out from the blanket for my benefit. On his feet were fluffy pink socks that were definitely too small for him.  
"You're the best," I groaned and pressed my lips against his. He pulled me closer, tasting like chocolate and mint.  
"Do you love me?" he asked, a teasing glint in his eyes. I rolled my eyes and pushed away from him.  
"Not as much as bacon," I said. He let out a 'hey' and before I could escape he'd grabbed me back and tackled me to the couch, tickling me until I couldn't breathe.  
"Okay, I love you!" I shouted through tears of laughter. It felt good to laugh. It felt good to feel the weight of his body pressed against mine, wrapped and tangled in layers of blankets and warm jumpers.  
It felt good to feel him kiss me like he'd never let me go, even if the rain came.

**A/N: Tell me what you think, yeah? Even if you hated it, let me know how to fix it. Constructive criticism is always welcome (:  
Thanks guys!**


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